Three major misunderstandings are distorting the Iran War
These three represent lingering hopes for a quick victory
But hoping Iran will bail us out is not a strategy
This war is entering a long strategic game—and we need to see how it actually works

Misunderstanding #1: “The war is mainly about Iran’s military capabilities”
No. The war right now is a race
A race between the rising global price of oil and Iran’s shrinking supply of drones
The U.S. can destroy drones, but fast enough to head off months of $120 p/b oil?
If oil prices rise faster than Iran’s drone arsenal falls, Iran wins the race
That’s Iran’s leverage

Misunderstanding #2: “This war will end quickly”
Washington says the conflict could end in weeks
But war is a two-actor game
Iran has no incentive to reopen Hormuz before U.S. politics turns toxic
By summer, the war becomes a political crisis in Washington
That’s Iran’s timing

📝💡𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐃𝐑 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬💡📝

📰 Here's your round-up of top #CarbonDioxideRemoval News / Developments from this week (09 March - 15 March 2026):

📺:

🧵1/

Frontier launched its 2026 Carbon Removal Innovation Program, offering $250K-$1.5M prepurchases and $250K-$750K R&D grants to tackle CDR bottlenecks.
frontierclimate.com/apply/innovati…

Octopus Energy signed $60M deal with Cultivo for U.S. grasslands.
accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/ag…

Google awarded $150K to Moss Landing Marine Labs for marine CDR research.
blogs.sjsu.edu/newsroom/2026/…

Carba and the University of Minnesota deployed a low-cost biochar reactor that removes CO2 for 1,000+ years and filters pollutants like PFAS from landfills.
biochartoday.com/news/carba-and…

Rainforest Builder raised Series A for ecosystem restoration projects in West Africa, that aims to generate 7M+ CDR credits under Verra methodology.
rainforestbuilder.com/post/rainfores…

Carbon Centric's BECCS Kirkenær project has successfully completed the Puro.earth preliminary assessment.
linkedin.com/posts/realclim…

Bregal Sphere partnered with Imperative, investing up to $500M in global nature projects.
carbonherald.com/bregal-sphere-…

O.C.O Technology signs 3-year carbon removal offtake with Rothschild & Co.
linkedin.com/pulse/new-carb…

CURA and Grand Forks Concrete partnered to decarbonize cement with first-of-kind commercial plant.
curaclimate.com/cura-and-grand…

Shropshire Council, Raft Energy, and Biodynamic Carbon partnered to produce biochar and verified CDR credits in the UK.
newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/2026/03/shrops…

@svantesolutions and a integrated packaging company advanced a U.S. biogenic CDR project at a paper mill, targeting 500,000+ tCO₂ captured annually and carbon credits.
morningstar.com/news/business-…

Holcim UK and Canary Wharf Group successfully trialed a biochar-integrated concrete mix in London.
biochartoday.com/news/holcim-uk…

SustainCERT & Carbon Ventures Africa approved as Validation and Verification Body under Isometric to validate carbon removal projects.
sustain-cert.com/news/isometric…

DecarbFaroe launched basalt CO₂ storage demo in the Faroe Islands, co-led by 44.01, Equinor, and Jarðfeingi with 19 partners globally.
linkedin.com/posts/decarbfa…

BROKIS at EDC pledged 1% revenue to carbon removal via Stripe Climate.
openpr.com/news/4418329/s…

The Advanced Woody Biomass Alliance has launched as a global platform uniting companies across power, fuels, industry & CDR to expand woody biomass use.
biomassmagazine.com/articles/advan…

Undaunted opened applications for CDR Accelerator Cohort 2. Deadline: 19 April.
undaunted-hq.org/programmes/cdr…

Watershed opened 2026 carbon removal RFP, inviting developers to supply credits for its network of 800+ global companies. Deadline: 10 April.
watershed.com/blog/carbon-rf…

Government of Canada launched a call for bids to enable the federal departments to buy $10M CAD CDR credits from Canadian projects; deadline: 11 May
canadabuys.canada.ca/en/tender-oppo…

IEA highlighted carbon capture and carbon removal as key energy innovation in State of Energy Innovation 2026 report.
iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/d24ccc7…

@Carbon_Direct released roadmap combining superpollutant mitigation with durable CDR.
carbon-direct.com/research-and-r…

@CarbonGap & Global Factor report found Spain could remove 69 Mt CO₂/year.
carbongap.org/deploying-cdr-…

Offstream released dMRV guide for project developers.
useoffstream.com/dmrv-course

@ClimeFiHQ’s 2026 durable CDR market report shows tightening supply and converging prices.
climefi.com/blog-posts/car…

Canadian Senate committee calls for country to lead on mCDR, including OAE.
sencanada.ca/en/info-page/p…

AFEN released the first regional map of CDR potential in France, highlighting 25 existing projects.
afen.fr/wp-content/upl…

For more updates, subscribe to the Carbon Removal Updates Substack Newsletter:


"Unroll" @threadreaderappcarbonremovalupdates.substack.com

Gregg Rosenberg wrote:
Socialists think they're using
Islam to gain power.
History says: it's the other way around.
Every. Single. Time.
1)

Iran, 1979.
The left helped bring down the Shah.
Celebrated in the streets.
Within months,
executed, imprisoned, erased.
The Islamists didn't need them anymore.
2)

This isn't a theory. It's a pattern.
When Islam reaches
30% of a population, the calculus shifts.
The "useful idiots" who opened the gates?
First ones through the guillotine.
3)

If Israeli Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones are killing Shaheed-136 launch crews.

They are not killing Basij regime security force checkpoints.

The US-Israeli air forces will need to inflict at _least_ 200K casualties to Iranian regime security forces...
1/3

https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee1/status/2033163997969535269

...for a successful civilian insurrection to have a good chance of success.

Even if there are ~200 checkpoint drone strikes per day inflicting 5 casualties each. That is only 1,000 a day, AKA 200 days.

2/3

BLUF:

US-Israeli airpower has to increase the Regime Security Force casualty rates to ~6,700 a day to end the air campaign in another 30 days.

B-52 & B-1's playing 'loitering bomb trucks' can do that, with less restrictive rules of engagement resulting in collateral damage
3/3

1/
The reason $FIGR is so fascinating to me even though it's a blockchain company is that blockchain here is treated as technology used to optimize real-world processes on existing real-world assets.

This is not a "making new assets" company at its core.

So let's dive into the various use cases, starting with the most fundamental one- the Loan Origination System.

2/
The LOS (loan origination system) is where $FIGR uses blockchain and modern tech to make the secured loan origination process much faster.

Just like $KLAR, $UPST, $AFRM and others used tech to enable a smarter and faster underwriting process, $FIGR is doing something similar.

This time- it's for secured loans, starting with HELOCs and mortgages.

3/
The LOS digitizes the entire underwriting process: credit, income, and property checks.

While the credit and income parts are similar to what unsecured lenders already do digitally, the property part is where $FIGR really innovates.

Instead of a manual appraisal process- they use Automated Valuation Models (AVMs).
Instead of a manual search of county records for existing liens and ownership history- they use digital title and lien matching.

25 Times the Oscars Got it Wrong — A THREAD
With hindsight, the Academy’s track record looks rough. We’re getting close to the point where they’ve made more mistakes than correct calls.
Here are 25 jaw-dropping decisions that have aged like milk
#Oscars #Oscars2026
1/

1. How Green Was My Valley Beat Citizen Kane (1941)
The Academy’s always been swayable: cash, lobbying, and whatever decision “looks good” socially. William Randolph Hearst, Kane’s real-life inspiration, went to war on it, banning mentions in his newspapers and trying to bury the film
2/

It was also a battle between old Hollywood's John Ford and young upstart, Orson Welles, who was mostly viewed as arrogant (not that Ford was a bed of roses). The world was at war, so the Academy decided to favour earnest comfort over the more cynical Kane
3/

This has been posted before but if you don't have a job, you're around Nairobi, and you're willing to show up and earn something, try the following places tomorrow being a Monday, Just walk in with your ID and you can land a casual job.

Check out:

1. Hotpoint Appliances – Ruiru Clay Works
You’ll easily see the Hotpoint signage. Be there by 8 AM and talk to the drivers who come for deliveries. If picked, you’ll help deliver electronics around Nairobi.
💰 KSh 700 per day

2. Kenya Breweries (EABL) – Ruaraka, Gumba Estate
Show up Monday or Friday. Casual roles sometimes include machine operators, cleaners, and loaders.
💰 About KSh 11,000 per week

We have spoken with the spouse of an infantryman in the 31st MEU currently headed towards Iran. With her permission we are sharing some details of the conversation 👇

Her husband wants “nothing to do with this war” and is not alone; some number of Marines in the unit, specifically rank E-3 to E-5, do not agree with the mission…

She reported that decline of confidence in the Department of War began with the Venezuela operation and intensified with the Minab school massacre…

Ukraine is expanding the battlefield without sending more soldiers into it.

A massive drone campaign is choking Russian logistics and tripling the “kill zone” behind the front line, making large areas deadly for Russian troops and equipment, Telegraph. 1/

Ukraine knows it cannot match Russia’s manpower.

Instead of sending troops into costly assaults, Kyiv is relying on precision, patience and technology to slow Russian advances and control the battlefield with drones. 2/

Ukrainian drones now strike up to 93 miles behind the front line.

Just weeks ago the reach was about 31 miles. The “kill zone” — where Russian troops and vehicles can be hit — has expanded threefold in some sectors. 3/

He and Hameroff still do not understand melanin. If they did it would advance their ideas a lot further.

https://twitter.com/fractal_verse/status/2032687199804707276

2. If the Lagrangian of life (L=T−V) is the "seed" of reality, then melanin was the earliest form of soil on Earth that allowed the environment to "unfurl" that seed into a useful photo-biological circuit. Melanin being spread all over the human mammalian body plan had massive impacts on consciousness.

Not including melanin in this story makes the story a half truth. My proposal is that melanin acts as a Battery Charger for transition metals.

This is the missing mechanical link that explains how early life navigated the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) without a catastrophic "short-circuit." Melanin turned invisible unusuable energy into a visible biological win we call life. It is part of the human Langrangian version of this equation. The electroweak force breaking time symmetry is the key to the mystery.

3. This is a profound expansion of my "physics-first" model for consciousness. By mapping the Lagrangian of physics, the fundamental balance of Kinetic (𝑇) and Potential (𝑉) energy, onto the biological emergence of life, I'm suggesting that melanin isn't just a pigment, but a fundamental biological force-carrier.

Here is my evaluation of my own proposal that melanin is the "missing mechanical link" in the Human Lagrangian from my blogs:

1. The "Soil" for the Biological Circuit
In the image provided, the Lagrangian (𝐿=𝑇−𝑉) is the "seed" that, through symmetry breaking, generates the particles of our universe.

In my thesis I've proposed proposing that melanin acted as the original substrate that allowed life to "choose its symmetry."

Because melanin is a biological semiconductor with massive pi-electron resonance (those aromatic rings we discussed), it acts as a "buffer" or "soil."

It can absorb high-energy, "invisible" radiation (UV, Gamma, X-rays) and convert it into low-energy, "usable" phonons or electrochemical gradients. This effectively prevents the "short-circuiting" of delicate early organic molecules. It does the same thing for consciousness. It provides the fuel to power it.

🔥🔥🔥Breaking! War on The Rocks (WOTR) has a very interesting sister org, created in 2022, called Breakrock Knowledge Inc! They claim that they have worked for the US Air Force as a Defense Dept contractor. And have had at least two ex CIA working there.

Part 1

(Recall, that WOTR were the ones who doxed the kind and sweet Cynical Publias.)

It’s headed by Ryan Evans and cofounded by Dr. Sae Schatz, a prev director of the US Defense Department's Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) program.

A third cofounder is Rick Batka. As a technical CTO and co-founder of Bedrock Learning he raised $1.15M in seed funding and architected cloud infrastructure and SDKs that scale to millions of learners while achieving SOC 2 Type II and NIST 800-171 accreditation in support of a $2M government contract.

Its director is ex CIA David Priess. Who was happy to see ex CIA, Rebecca Lewis, join their ranks. David Preiss is also a Hayden Center Senior Fellow.

Also there is Lauren Bedula, a managing director at Beacon Global Strategies. I’ve attached a 🧵, so you can see Beacon Global Strategies CIA connections.

This org is also staffed by many prev Defense Dept folks, and I’ll show those when I source.

As you know, I just post the facts that anyone can find online. So let’s continue.

In 2022 it was founded as Bedrock Learning, Inc “as a spin-off of War on the Rocks (Metamorphic Media) and is headquartered in Washington, DC”. The name was changed to Breakout Knowledge inc in 2024.

Bedrock claims they are on a, “Path to Leading the Race for AI Dominance.” Utilize war gaming, and “offers a social network that centers learning through the provision of courses, serious games, and open source intelligence streams”.

“By harnessing the power of our social network, we make it possible for individuals and organizations to not only navigate, but also illuminate the complexities of the modern world — to garner, earn, and generate knowledge. And, in doing so, create a safer and more prosperous world.”

Bedrock Privacy Policy:

“At Bedrock Learning, Inc. (“Bedrock”), we respect your privacy. We recognize your need for appropriate protection and management of any personally identifiable information..”

Sources to follow, and I have a lot! Stay tuned for Part two later on.

https://x.com/pepesgrandma/status/1650172029126037504

Part two will be even more interesting! I’ll need a second latte for this. Part one was the easy part. 😹

Let’s begin with a founders listing. You can read their mini bios here too.

Ryan Evans
Sae Schatz
Rick Batka

archive.is/qqPKL

There’s two sources here on David Priess, ex CIA, working at Bedrock. One from its earlier Bedrock Learing Inc days and another from its later Bedrock Knowledge inc days.

♦️Bedrock Learing Inc

“David Priess is Director of Intelligence at Bedrock Learning, Inc. and a Senior Fellow at the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security. He served during the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations as a CIA officer and has written two books: “The President’s Book of Secrets,” about the top-secret President’s Daily Brief, and "How To Get Rid of a President," describing the ways American presidents have left office.”
archive.is/iRPc4

♦️Bedrock Knowledge Inc

“The conversation with Gordon was moderated by Hayden Center Senior Fellow David Priess. Priess formerly worked as an intelligence officer, manager, and daily intelligence briefer for the CIA and had previously worked as a desk officer in the State Department's Near East Bureau. Currently, he is the Director of Intelligence for Bedrock Knowledge, Inc. and is a frequent commentator on national security issues both on television and in print.”

archive.is/d2Ta6

This week, the Starmer administration voted to get rid of jury trials, a right enjoyed by British citizens for over 800 years.

But my investigations reveal THREE pro-Israeli lawyers pushing for the change.

Here are their names:🧵

Keir Starmer initially appointed Sarah Sackman as Solicitor-General. Now, she is Labour’s Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services.

But Sackman previously worked as a judicial clerk at the Israeli Supreme Court.

Sackman’s grandfather Solomon Seruya worked for the United Israel Appeal, which is responsible for “the allocation + oversight of funds raised…on behalf of Israel”.

Their primary objective is “to assist immigration to Israel”. Chairs have included Epstein-associate Les Wexner.